FAREWELL SERMON.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3888, 7 February 1870, Page 4

FAREWELL SERMON.

Tke Venerable Archdeacon Lloyd — who is to leave Auckland' to-day for Sydney, on his way to England, having received preferment in the diocese of Lichfield — preached his farewell sermon at St. Paul's Church, yesterday forenoon. The church was crowded. The Eight Rev. Dr. Cowie, the newly-appointed bishop of this diocese, took part in the service for the first time. Archdeacon Lloyd read prayers ; and the Bishop read the Communion Service, with the exception of the Epistle. The Archdeacon took as his text, St. John, chap, iii., v.36 :— " Jesus said, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life." The words of Jesus (said the preacher) were, "He thatbelievethontheSon hath, "not, shallhave, "life everlasting." The life which a man now had would not cease on the temporary decay and death of the body, nor would he have" hereafter a different Me. There was not to be one life in time and another in eternity; but one continued, uninterrupted life to all eternity. A vague impression very commonly prevailed, that death would make a wondrous change in the character of the righteous and of the unrighteous ; that the unfitness for Gocl'a presence in -which so many men unhappily lived and died, would somehow be purged away by the very process of death itself. But the death of the body would mate no change in our characters, only in their intensity. Evil-minded men were restrained from much evil in this world, by the opinions of others, and by a thousand other checks, so that the true characters of such men could not show themselves here ; but that which such men would be on this carth — that which it was the tendency of their lives to become — that they would fully be, hereafter. So likewise, those who believed in Christ, and lived in communion with Him, were constantly aiming at what they could not attain to, becaxise of the infirmities of the flesh : but that which, amidst the many evils and interruptions of this life, they sought to be, that the}' would be perfectly I hereafter, when the clogs of the sinful flesh were removed. And at the resurrection of the just a still further development of character awaited them ; for then they would receive glorified bodies, which, instead of being hindrances, would be fitted to give effect to every good thought and desire of their natures. The preacher enlarged upon and illustrated the development of the characters of the righteous ; and in conclusion he said : Biethren, as this is the last time I shall have the pleasure of addressing you from this place, I thought that this subject would not be inappropriate on such an occasion. Here, in this life, we are all subject to decay and death, that no flesh should glory iv the presence of God. But the endless life, which they enjoy who believe in Christ, is subject to neither decay nor death. May God grant us grace to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, through whom we attain to this inconceivable gift of an endless life. I am thankful to say that the spiritual wants of this parish will not be left unprovided for after my departure. A clergyman has : already been appointed in the mother country, and is now, I trust, on his way out to this colony. In the meantime, lam authorised to state, the Bishop of this diocese will take the spiritual oversight cf the parish. And now, brethren, farewell. 1 commend yon to the grace of God, which is able to build you up, and to grant you an ; inheritance amongst the Saints in light. And J I pray God that your whole spirit, mind;* soul, and body, may be preserved blameless, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.